Exploration…...The first step towards sustainable development

The exploration activities are the direct reflection of the effort exerted in the petroleum agreements sector and are the key to add reserves for more growth. Currently there are more than 60 international companies working in the field of petroleum exploration and exploitation within 183 areas in the Mediterranean Sea, Nile Delta, Western Sahara, Eastern Desert, Sinai and Upper Egypt under supervision of the Ministry of Petroleum's affiliated.

Because of the continuous and intensive petroleum exploration programs during the past period, 449 discoveries (315 oil - 134 gas) achieved which added Egypt's oil and gas reserves about 522.3 million barrels of oil and condensates in addition to 41.7 TCF gas from 2013 until 2020. and (119) development lease for new discoveries were signed in the Mediterranean, Western and Eastern Desert.
Egypt has been on a drive to attract more investment in its energy sector and speed up production at recent discoveries in different Petroleum Provinces as follow:

1.The Egyptian Natural Gas Holding Company (EGAS) has conducted a Multi-Client Project (spec) in the Western Mediterranean to provide all seismic data in the region, identify the geological structures of the region and re-market them globally to foreign and national companies, which in turn inject billions Dollars as direct investments to increase oil and gas production or at least maintain the level of production, which directly affects the public treasury and the country's national output. The Phase I &II of the West Med. MC Project has been completed with new acquired 2D seismic data of 30, 000 Km and more than 10, 000 Km of reprocessed data.

Map of the New acquired 2D MC in the West Mediterranean

2. In addition, two new contracts have been signed between South Valley Egyptian Petroleum Holding Company, Schlumberger and TGS for the implementation of two projects to collect geophysical data in Red Sea and South Egypt region with investments of more than 750 million dollars. This project will attract investment and opening up new exploration opportunities and it is a milestone in the history of exploration in the petroleum sector. It is also an urgent necessity to start exploration in this new region, as it will provide us with more clear data for deep geological formations, sedimentary basins and potential oil reservoir. The first phase has been completed December 2018 to start marketing the Red Sea and some areas of the South Valley.

The 2D Seismic data acquisition phase was completed on March 2018, where 10,904 km long were collected by 109% of the plan (10,000 km long). A marine gravity and magnetic survey was also collected in conjunction with the seismic survey that will lead to the integration of the data and what can result in giving a clearer picture of the subsurface structures and the expected oil reservoirs

GANOPE Announced an international Bidround March 2019 for 10 Blocks in the Red Sea. Chevron , shell and Mubadala have awarded Blocks No. 1 ,3 & 4 as the ministry announced Dec. 2019 .

Map of the legacy data Set in the Red Sea (2D &3D Seismic)

Map of the New acquired 2D MC in the Red Sea

3.EGPC singed a new contract with Schlumberger to acquire new Seismic data on the Gulf of Suez to unlock the remaining potential in this mature basin. The first phase of the project started Jan. 2020 in GUPCO & Neptune Development leases using OBN Seismic Surveys Technology Covered area of 1225 km².

Map of the current operators in the Gulf of Suez

4.EGPC launched a tender to build its first E&P Digital data center (Egypt's Upstream Gateway) on November 2018. The EUG is a data bank (a National Data Repository) that will provide a world-class solution that incorporates the analytics, visualization, data storage and infrastructure with provisions for seamless access and on-line data management, which facilitates the operation day-to-day activities as well as decision-making and license rounds promotion.

EGPC and Schlumberger signed the EUG agreement on EGYPS 2020

The first digital upstream bidround is launched for 24 blocks in Mediterranean , Gulf of Suez and Western desert

For more information on the current bidround , please log into the EUG website